Second Chances
by smaragdbird
Summary: When the news that DADT is repealed reach Atlantis, Sheppard makes a discovery he's not too happy about because finding out that your best friend lied to you is never pretty. Slash Ronon/Lorne, Sequel to Dress Blues


The news that Don't ask Don't tell was abolished reached Atlantis, like everything else, much later when the Daedalus arrived.

Lorne was busy with the unloading of crates of supplies, containing everything but mostly coffee, chocolate, hygiene products and meds, in that order.

So when Caldwell came over with some official looking documents and handed one copy each to John and Woolsey, Lorne wasn't anywhere near the gateroom.

Both men skimmed over the pages, a discreet smile spreading on Woolsey's face while John looked somewhere between excited and astonished. He finally looked up at Woolsey who said:

"You should announce it."

John nodded and cleared his throat. Everyone except for Lorne and the handful of Daedalus crewmembers that were helping him was here anyway. He stepped out of Woolsey's office and asked Chuck to put him on city wide loudspeaker before clearing his throat and began to read:

"As of the "the date was six weeks old: "Don't ask Don't tell is abolished in favour of a policy that grants homosexual members of the United States Military to serve openly without repercussions."

The gateroom was silent for a moment, everyone, regardless of their nationality, stared up at John until the cheering broke out. Sheppard grinned along with everyone else and even Woolsey and Caldwell allowed themselves discreet smiles.

/

Evan wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and turned to Parrish.

"That was the last cargo. Thanks for helping me, David."

"No problem, "Parrish grinned and pocketed his two pounds of coffee and four chocolate bares that were his payment for helping out with the unloading.

"Aren't you a bit overdressed?" He smirked when Evan put on his dress blues jacket and added smugly: "Again?"

Evan pretended to be scandalized: "I'm merely following protocol, Dr. Parrish."

"Uhu," Parrish rolled his eyes: "And fucking your CO's teammate and best friend can probably be found in the protocol somewhere."

"Not so loud." Evan hissed.

"No's one here Evan. And no one would care."

"It could still get me send back to Earth and thrown out of the army." Evan reminded him.

"I know. Won't happen again, sorry." They stepped into the transporter. The doors opened for them and they walked into the gateroom.

"Whoah!" Parrish said: "Did we defeat the Wraith and no one told us?"

"Hey, Lorne," Sheppard approached them: "There was a –" He didn't continue because Ronon had grabbed Evan and kissed him and that quite thoroughly. Evan only struggled for a second then he thought that he might enjoy his last kiss while it lasted and kissed back. He could be pissed with Ronon for outing him and getting him thrown out later.

/

Sheppard stared at them with very, very wide eyes and next to him so did McKay. David found it almost comically.

"You were saying, Colonel?" He asked if only to distract Sheppard from his friend.

"Policy...change..."

"I take it that this," David gestured to Lorne and Ronon who were still wrapped up in each other: "is allowed now?"

"Yes." Sheppard answered slowly. He visibly struggled to look away from his XO and his best friend snogging to David. He seemed to feel slightly deceived: "You knew about this?"

"'Course, I did. I'm actually surprised you didn't notice. I mean it was kind of obvious that Evan dressed up for Ronon at every opportunity since we came back here?"

Now Sheppard looked even more deceived than before. He really hadn't known.

"Why did you think Evan began to dress so suddenly?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"I thought he was getting laid. Just, you know, by those people who were visiting us and not for Ronon." Sheppard's face darkened. David could see that he felt slighted by that fact that David had known but he hadn't. Before David could answer, Ronon and Lorne finally stopped kissing and Lorne pushed Ronon away from him: "Are you mad? Why the hell did you-"

"Because I can." Ronon answered simply which seemed to confuse Lorne: "What?"

/

"They changed your law. I can do this now." John cleared his throat and Lorne stepped away from Ronon immediately, looking embarrassed. Ronon made a motion in John's direction but John stopped him with a small gesture.

"Major, "He addressed Lorne in a controlled voice: "are the supplies stored away?"

"Yes, sir." Lorne and Ronon looked uncomfortable which satisfied John a bit. Served them right for lying to him. Lorne, he could understand or rather he could rationalise it, but not Ronon.

"Good, you're dismissed." John walked away, leaving the gateroom. He made his way to his office and wasn't the least surprised that Ronon followed him.

"How long?" John asked without preamble.

"Since we came with Atlantis to Earth." Ronon didn't even pretend to misunderstand him.

"And who of you decided to lie to me?" John looked straight in Ronon's eyes. His best friend had lied to him for two years, he had the goddamn right to feel betrayed.

"Would the answer change anything?" Ronon asked softly.

"Yes, dammit, it would!" John yelled. He was hurt and he wanted to lash out: "I thought you would know better."

Ronon looked away to hide his hurt expression at John's words. John slumped against his desk, defeated: "I'm sorry," He muttered: "Did you know that Parrish knew?"

"No." Ronon replied firmly. Something like anger gleamed in his eyes when he did: "I wouldn't have kept it secret from you if I had." He took a step towards John: "John, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you."

"Yeah, well, I guess that Teyla and Rodney will give hell for this, too, so..." He gave Ronon a small version of his usual smirk: "No hard feelings."

Ronon pulled him into a short embrace and whispered: "Thanks."

/

"Hey," Evan said when the door closed behind Ronon. He looked exhausted, maybe even a bit weary but at the moment couldn't care less.

"Ronon?" He asked when Ronon didn't move but stayed in front of the door, tense.

"You told Parrish about us."

"I tell David everything. You knew that."

"Not that."

"Ronon, what-"But Evan was cut off when Ronon crossed the room in three fast strides and grabbed him by the arms.

"You made me lie to my team for two years." Ronon told him angrily. The memory of the look on John's face was too fresh and hurt too much. There were already too many things – drugs, Wraith, aliens – that had made them turn against each other without Ronon actively lying to John.

"Parrish isn't my CO." Evan pushed Ronon away: "There was zero chance that he would get me thrown out."

"Neither would have John." But Evan shook his head at that.

"You're confusing me with you, Ronon. Sheppard would search every corner of the universe for you or Teyla or McKay but I never know when he's playing loose and fast with the rules and when he sticks to them." Ronon held Evan's eyes for a few moments, trying to reign in his fury at what Evan had said.

"Fine." He said finally and left without another word.

/

They didn't see each other for a few days after that since Sheppard took his team to annihilate another Wraith Hive together with Todd and Woolsey send Evan and his team to a diplomatic mission on Seefra to convince them to join the coalition. That they received both a death threat (Parrish insulting their ineffective crop watering system) and a marriage offer (the Chief's daughter seemed to be quite taken by Cadman's brashness) only showed that it was simply another day in the Pegasus Galaxy.

"Hey, you okay?" Parrish asked when they were alone. After reporting back to Woolsey he had told them to stay on Seefra and try to negotiate a treaty with them without marrying Cadman to the Chief's daughter if possible (the last two words being something that Cadman had found distinctly less amusing than her teammates).

"Well, I really don't want to marry off Cadman." Evan joked: "At least not without her consent. On the other hand, military personnel are much easier to break in than scientists so please try not to insult them again, okay?" Evan was aware that he was rambling; it was something he did when he wanted to deflect attention.

"You had a fight with Ronon, didn't you?" Parrish asked, totally ignoring that he was supposed to be distracted by Evan's joke.

"Yes, "Evan sighed.

"About?"

"You."

"Me?"

"That I told you but asked Ronon to keep quiet about us to his team."

"Ouch." Parrish gave him a sympathetic smile: "But understandable."

"Ronon didn't see it like that." Evan tried not to think too much about their fight. Ronon's look when he had said those things about Sheppard, no matter how true they were, still hurt.

"I meant that I can understand why Ronon was so upset. You weren't exactly honest with him."

"Sheppard is my CO." Evan reminded him.

"I know, but still. I remember that you said more than once that the team comes first. Sheppard, as far as I know him, thinks the same. If it had been the other way round we would have bombed your quarters, making it look like an accident of course, put the Pegasus equivalent of itching powder on every spare uniform in your size afterwards and then make you watch the video McKay sent to Earth when they thought they were all going to die during the first year on Atlantis." Evan stared at Parrish for a second before he snorted: "Not like you planned this or something?"

"Growing up in a large family taught me that revenge plans should always contain some kind of cool and unusual punishment." Parrish replied easily. They grinned at each other until Parrish asked: "So, about Ronon...you're going to apologise, right?" When Evan looked aside, avoiding Parrish's eyes, he asked again: "Right?"

"I didn't do anything wrong." Evan said stubbornly.

"That's not the point, Evan!" Parrish looked like he wanted to grab Evan by the shoulders and shake him: "It's not about whom of you is wrong, it's about who's right, and Ronon has a fair point. You could have lost your job but Ronon could have lost Sheppard's trust which means everything to him."

"Okay, "Evan said finally: "Any ideas?"

Parrish smiled.

/

Ronon felt tired but satisfied. Spending the last week chasing and killing Wraith usually had that effect on him. Once they had gotten into battle, he and John had both acted like nothing had ever happened and Ronon cherished that. Also, as long as someone shot at him, he had been able to forget his and Evan's fight. They hadn't spoken since then and Ronon didn't know if Evan and his team were already back from Seefra or not.

Therefore he was surprised to find Evan in front of his door, wearing his dress blues and holding a small package in his hands.

"Hi," he said: "Can I come in?" Ronon tilted his head and stepped aside to let him in.

"What do you want?"

"I'm sorry. It's easy to forget that your team means as much to you as my team to me. I shouldn't have made you lie to them." Evan gave him a tentative smile: "And this is for you." He handed the small package to Ronon.

"What is it?"

"A knife, for your hair." He elaborated: "I figured you're not the flowers and chocolate type."

"Thanks." Ronon slipped the small knife into his hair. His fingers brushed over Evan's dress jacket.

"You look good." He murmured, leaning in.

"I was kinda hoping for make-up sex." Evan confessed.

"I like the way you think."

"So do I." Evan grinned when Ronon finally kissed him.


End file.
